MCP Setup — AI Assistant Tools (Claude Desktop, Cursor)

ThetaPrime can expose tools to an MCP-capable AI assistant, so you can ask things like "what's my BankNifty strangle's P&L right now" or "is today's reconciliation clean" without opening the dashboard.

This is local only — the assistant spawns mcp_server.py on your own machine, which talks to your already-running ThetaPrime over localhost only; nothing is exposed to the internet. Read tools (P&L, positions, status, logs) always work. Arming a strategy, closing a position, and saving or editing a strategy spec are each opt-in — see Write tools and Saving strategy specs below.

Requirements

• ThetaPrime must be running — the tools read from it live, they don't work standalone.

• A separate Python install to run mcp_server.py under, with the mcp and requests packages — ThetaPrime's own bundled runtime isn't a general-purpose interpreter and can't run other scripts. Any recent Python 3 from python.org works; this is unrelated to and doesn't affect your ThetaPrime install.

powershell pip install mcp requests

• Your dashboard password (Settings → the same one you log in with).

Configure Claude Desktop

mcp_server.py ships in your install directory alongside app.exe (default C:\Program Files\ThetaPrime\mcp_server.py — check your Start Menu shortcut's target if you installed elsewhere).

Edit claude_desktop_config.json at %APPDATA%\Claude\claude_desktop_config.json.

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "thetaprime": {
      "command": "C:\Users\you\AppData\Local\Programs\Python\Python312\python.exe",
      "args": ["C:\Program Files\ThetaPrime\mcp_server.py"],
      "env": {
        "THETAPRIME_URL": "http://localhost:5000",
        "THETAPRIME_MCP_PASSWORD": "your-dashboard-password"
      }
    }
  }
}

Not sure which python.exe you have? Run (Get-Command python).Source in PowerShell (after installing Python, if you haven't already).

Restart Claude Desktop after saving.

Tools

Write tools (opt-in)

Off by default. Turn on Settings → Safety Settings → "Allow AI assistant (MCP) to arm, enable and square off strategies" to enable these:

arm_strategy, close_position and (for a real-mode strategy) enable_strategy use a two-call confirm convention, same as clicking the button on the dashboard: call once with confirm=False to get a preview (today's P&L for arm, the legs/exit prices for close, the mode, armed state and next entry time for enable) — the assistant should show you that and get your explicit go-ahead in the conversation — then call again with confirm=True to actually place the order. Both routes are the exact same code path the dashboard buttons use; turning this on is equivalent to handing the AI assistant your dashboard password's arm/square-off access, gated by this separate switch. Switching a strategy to Real mode counts as arming, so it is behind the same switch; switching back to Paper (which disarms) is not.

enable_strategy is also refused while the daily loss limit is active, and disable_strategy is refused unless the strategy is completely flat (no open leg, no parked long leg, no unconfirmed close, no manual-control flag, no position engine running) — the dashboard's own Pause button is unchanged and less strict. The strategy name can be given as lib_v1 or lib_v1.spec.json. Assistant enables/disables are recorded in the App Event Log with source: mcp.

There's no raw order-placement tool either way — ThetaPrime's unit is a configured strategy, not a manual order, and every tool requires an explicit strategy argument (no "current"/"last mentioned" strategy).

Saving strategy specs (opt-in)

A separate switch from the one above: Settings → Safety Settings → "Allow AI assistant (MCP) to save and edit strategy specs". Off by default. It lets an assistant — for example one using the thetaprime-strategy-builder skill from Composer's Build with AI dialog — put a strategy straight into Composer instead of you importing a .spec.json by hand.

• A new name saves directly. The strategy is created disabled and in paper mode; nothing runs until you enable it (and, for real trading, arm it) yourself. Check the payoff diagram in Composer first.
• Editing an existing strategy needs overwrite=True and is refused unless the strategy is disarmed, disabled, and has no open position (and no position engine running for it). This is checked by ThetaPrime itself, not left to the assistant. Saving from the Composer page in your browser is unchanged.
• Two calls, like arm/close. With confirm=False nothing is written and the assistant gets back the list of changes (for example blocks.exits[0].params.pts: 60 -> 45); it should show you that and get your go-ahead before calling again with confirm=True.
• The previous version is kept as <name>.spec.json.bak in the strategies folder — one file, replaced by the next edit. There is no restore tool: to go back, delete the edited <name>.spec.json and rename the .bak to <name>.spec.json. (The dashboard card's <name>.json is regenerated on every save.)
• Every assistant save is recorded in the App Event Log as strategy.composer_saved with source: mcp and the list of changes.

If the switch is off, save_strategy_spec fails with "AI spec-save is disabled in Settings" and the skill falls back to giving you a file to import.